Man Shot by Newport Beach Police Sues City for ‘Excessive Force’

A Liberian immigrant who was shot and seriously wounded by Newport Beach police 2 months ago sued the city Wednesday, accusing city police of encouraging a pattern of “unjustified and excessive force.”

Sundaga Bryant and his wife, Marlene, also charged in the suit that Newport Beach police “maintain a system of grossly inadequate training pertaining to the law of permissible use of firearms and the use of excessive force.”

On Sept. 4, Bryant, 26, was shot by a police officer near Balboa Pier. Derek Duncan, the officer who shot Bryant with a single blast from a shotgun, told investigators that he mistook a portable radio Bryant was carrying for a weapon.

At the time of the shooting, police said officers had responded to the beach area in response to calls that a man was carrying a sawed-off shotgun.

Christian W. Keena, Bryant’s attorney, said his client faces years of therapy and perhaps tens of thousands of dollars in hospital and other medical expenses.

The lawsuit did not specify monetary damages, saying that would be determined later.

In addition to the shooting of Bryant, the suit complained that his wife was subjected to false imprisonment when she was handcuffed immediately after her husband had been shot.

The “plaintiffs were not armed and posed no threat of violence or danger to the defendant officers,” the suit said. “Bryant sustained serious and permanent personal injuries which has caused and continues to cause plaintiff to suffer severe mental, physical and nervous shock, psychological and neurological damage and pain and suffering.”

The lawsuit asked the court to award the couple damages to compensate for incurred and anticipated medical expenses and loss of earnings.